January 10, 2011 12:05 pm

Editor’s note: Brian McIntyre regularly covers the Seattle Seahawks and the rest of the NFL on his own football blog, and has graciously agreed to provide his weekly personnel files on the Seahawks here each week. We welcome him to Seahawks Insider.

Brian McIntyre blogs daily at Mac’s Football Blog. You can follow Brian on Twitter, and if you’d like to e-mail him, you can always do so by clicking here.

Also, check out McIntyre’s personnel breakdown of the first Seahawks-Bears contest right here.

Offensive Personnel Groupings

Excluding penalties, the Seahawks ran 61 offensive plays out of six personnel groupings against the New Orleans Saints on Saturday afternoon.

Group

Name

Pass

Run

Total

Pass%

Run%

0 RB, 5 WR, 0 TE

“00”

4

0

4

100.0%

0.0%

1 RB, 3 WR, 1 TE

“11”

8

3

11

72.7%

27.3%

2 RB, 2 WR, 1 TE

“21”

4

9

13

30.8%

69.2%

2 RB, 3 WR

“20”

7

2

9

77.8%

22.2%

1 RB, 2 WR, 2 TE

“12”

11

3

14

78.6%

21.4%

2 RB, 1 WR, 2 TE

“22”

2

8

10

20.0%

80.0%

Total

36

25

61

59.0%

41.0%

Seattle opened the game with the 5-WR personnel grouping, a look they hadn’t shown in 2010, but used once per quarter against New Orleans.

Matt Hasselbeck Passing on Saturday (By Personnel Grouping)

Hasselbeck

Com

Att

%

Yards

LG

TD

INT

Sacks

Yds

Rating

“00”

3

4

75.0%

23

15

0

0

0

0

88.5

“11”

4

8

50.0%

97

45

2

0

0

0

133.9

“21”

2

4

50.0%

22

12

0

1

0

0

27.1

“20”

4

6

66.7%

49

18

0

0

1

-6

91.2

“12”

7

11

63.6%

63

39

0

0

0

0

78.9

“22”

2

2

100.0%

18

11

2

0

0

0

143.8

Total

22

35

62.9%

272

45

4

1

1

-6

113.0

Seahawks Rushing on Sunday (By Personnel Grouping)

Rushing

Att

Yds

Avg

LG

TD

“11”

3

17

5.7

7

0

“21”

9

103

11.4

67

1

“20”

2

7

3.5

6

0

“12”

3

8

2.7

4

0

“22”

8

14

1.8

8

0

Totals

25

149

6.0

67

1

All nine runs out of “21” personnel had Marshawn Lynch and Michael Robinson in the backfield in either an I- or Offset-I formation, including the now legendary 67-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter. Five of those nine runs gained six or more yards. It’s worth noting that the first time the Seahawks played the Saints, Michael Robinson was out with a hamstring injury, and John Carlson was used in a fullback-type role.Snap Counts (Offense)

Player

Plays

Total

%

6-C.Whitehurst

0

61

0.0%

7-J.Losman

0

61

0.0%

8-M.Hasselbeck

61

61

100.0%

15-B.Stokley

24

61

39.3%

17-M.Williams

59

61

96.7%

20-J.Forsett

24

61

39.3%

24-M.Lynch

31

61

50.8%

26-M.Robinson

24

61

39.3%

33-L.Washington

9

61

14.8%

63-C.White

0

61

0.0%

64-M.Gibson

61

61

100.0%

65-C.Spencer

61

61

100.0%

73-W.Robinson

0

61

0.0%

75-S.Locklear

61

61

100.0%

76-R.Okung

61

61

100.0%

77-S.Andrews

0

61

0.0%

78-T.Polumbus

61

61

100.0%

81-G.Tate

5

61

8.2%

82-R.Martin

10

61

16.4%

87-B.Obomanu

46

61

75.4%

88-C.Morrah

24

61

39.3%

89-J.Carlson

48

61

78.7%

– Forsett was the single-back on 10 of the 11 plays run out of “11” personnel, and eight of the nine plays out of “20” personnel.

– Lynch and Robinson were the two backs in “21” personnel.

– Seven of Washington’s nine snaps were in “20” personnel.

– 20 of Stokley’s 24 snaps were in 3+-WR packages.

– Williams played in all but two snaps, both using “22” personnel, on Saturday.

– Tate was in on all four of the 5-WR sets and picked up an additional snap in “21” personnel.

– Eight of Martin’s 10 snaps were in 3+-WR groupings. Martin and Stokley were in the slot on 32 of their 34 combined snaps.

– Obomanu played 40 of his 46 snaps with a dislocated right shoulder.

– Even with Chris Baker on IR, Seattle still used two tight ends on 39.3% of the offensive snaps on Saturday. One change was Morrah and Carlson were kept in-line, with Morrah flexed off the line of scrimmage or split wide on six of his 24 snaps.Defensive Personnel Groupings

Excluding penalties, the Seahawks defense was on the field for a staggering 83 plays on Saturday.

Package

Pass

Run

Total

Pass%

Run%

Base

19

17

36

52.8%

47.2%

Nickel

21

5

26

80.8%

19.2%

Bandit

20

0

20

100.0%

0.0%

5*3*3

1

0

1

100.0%

0.0%

Total

61

22

83

73.5%

26.5%

Against Seattle’s “Bandit” package, Drew Brees completed 12-of-19 pass attempts for 193 yards and a touchdown. The Seahawks’ one quarterback sack on Sunday came out of 3-man rush out of “Bandit” personnel. Brees was 13-of-21 for 97 yards against Seattle’s nickel packages, 13-of-19 for 113 yards against the Seahawks’ base defense, and 1-for-1 with a 1-yard touchdown on a bootleg against Seattle’s short-yardage defense.

The Saints exploited the Seahawks nickel package on the ground, gaining 26 yards on 5 carries, each gaining between 4 and 6 yards. Julius Jones’ first touchdown came when the Seahawks were in nickel on a 3rd-and-4 play from the Seahawks 5-yard line. Against Seattle’s base defense, the Saints had 17 carries for 59 yards and a touchdown. 11 of those carries gained 3 yards of less.Defensive Player Snap Count

Player

Plays

Total

%

21-K.Jennings

82

83

98.8%

23-M.Trufant

79

83

95.2%

27-J.Babineaux

48

83

57.8%

28-W.Thurmond

22

83

26.5%

29-E.Thomas

83

83

100.0%

31-K.Chancellor

20

83

24.1%

36-L.Milloy

83

83

100.0%

39-K.Cox

0

83

0.0%

51-L.Tatupu

71

83

85.5%

52-M.McCoy

0

83

0.0%

54-W.Herring

28

83

33.7%

57-D.Hawthorne

47

83

56.6%

58-D.Davis

4

83

4.8%

59-A.Curry

62

83

74.7%

90-C.Cole

40

83

48.2%

91-C.Clemons

73

83

88.0%

92-B.Mebane

57

83

68.7%

93-C.Terrill

25

83

30.1%

94-J.Siavii

0

83

0.0%

95-K.Balmer

20

83

24.1%

98-R.Brock

65

83

78.3%

99-J.Richardson

4

83

4.8%

– Jennings only came off the field for the one short-yardage play in the 1st quarter.

– Trufant was not on the field for the short-yardage play, and missed three more snaps in the third quarter.

– Babineaux was in for all nickel and “Bandit” plays, as well as the short-yardage play and a snap in a heavy base defense look on the 4th-and-1 stop in the 3rd quarter.

– Thurmond worked the slot in “Bandit” and replaced Trufant for a few snaps in nickel defense in the third quarter.

– Chancellor’s snaps were as a safety in “Bandit”.

– Thomas and Milloy logged 100% of the snaps on Saturday.

– Tatupu missed the last 12 snaps with a concussion.

– Herring’s snaps included all 26 nickel plays and two in base defense.

– Hawthorne played 37 snaps in base and short-yardage, 1 snap in nickel, and 9 snaps as the middle linebacker in “Bandit” in the fourth quarter.

– Davis spelled Brock and Clemons in nickel and “Bandit” packages.

– Curry logged 37 snaps at linebacker, and 25 as an inside rusher in nickel and “Bandit”.

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About

Gregg Bell joined The News Tribune in July 2014. Bell had been the director of writing for the University of Washington's athletic department for four years. He was the senior national sports writer in Seattle for The Associated Press from 2005-10, covering the Seahawks in their first Super Bowl season and beyond. He's also been The Sacramento Bee's beat writer on the Oakland Athletics and Raiders. The native of Steubenville, Ohio, is a 1993 graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., and a 2000 graduate of the University of California, Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism.

@Audible I believe they sit there and take notes themselves, I know some reporters do this with printouts that make it easier to fill in for each snap (so they can fill in the columns without writing out “bandit” or whatever).

Audible – I don’t know that McIntyre does this for the rest of the league. He may, although I don’t believe so. But yes, these personnel breakdowns are available out there for all the teams.

Bookmakers have some crazy complex algorithms they use to determine lines, spreads, odds, etc… that are not necessarily personnel related, as far as Xs and Os go. Their information and strategies are mathematically driven, for the most part. But they too have every piece of information one could imagine or ever want regarding teams and their histories and tendencies.

But remember, bookmakers and coaches have very different objectives. Coaches acquire info in an attempt to beat their opponent. The oddsmakers are simply trying to get as much money out of the betting public they possibly can. Nothing more.

A good friend of mine is very close to a “consultant” for Billy Walters down in Vegas. Walters is one of the biggest sports betters in the world. The things he knows about teams (especially college basketball) and their tendencies is freakish. It makes this “cute” little chart above so very quaint. lol.

I remember reading an interview with Bill Belichick a long time ago, talking about how he started his career in football as a young man. He was the guy who stayed up all night after the game charting the formations off the coaches film, then breaking down the film (yes, they used actual film) into separate canisters for each of the assistant coaches to have it ready for them by morning. They say he earned a reputation as being obsessive about his work from day one.

A little easier these days with DVRs but they did all this stuff with film at one time. I think we take today’s technology for granted sometimes… as I sit here reviewing plays on nfl game rewind.

Stevos – I’ve read about that too. He was living with his grandmother because he wasn’t making enough to get a place of his own, working for the Baltimore Colts. I believe he was making like $30 a week.

Charlie,Charlie, Charlie, I mean ummmm……..
All the Hawk haters can suck our D…..Ks.
Damn, that ish was crazy on Saturday, wish I was there, wow.
I think Chi town is in trouble. Beast Mode baby, finally, that run was too sic. Go Hass. We go as far as he takes us. On the idea of resigning of him though, I have my reservations, but for now, we need to ride his ass.
Go Hawks.

GeorgiaHawk – Perhaps. But to the casual fan, I think this gives a very nice frame to the game stats. Analysis can always be taken to more detail but we can learn a lot about how the Seahawks approach opposing teams.

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